Bible

Unspoken assumptions make the argument. Debates become fruitful when unspoken assumptions get clarified. Many of us are accustomed to calling these assumptions presuppositions—controlling beliefs that determine how we think. In a culture that has largely accepted the belief that the only thing that...
Writing now from the Sea of Galilee only a short distance from where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, I am reminded how earthy the gospel is. Just as Jesus walked the real turf of Nazareth, he healed really sick people and raised really dead ones. He addressed people of real faith and people...
There is no shortage of handbooks on what it means to be an effective pastor; but none can begin to compare with actually meeting someone who is just that. To have such a man as your pastor, or to cultivate a friendship with someone who embodies the qualities needed for the task, is guaranteed to...
Christians in the US and Europe are living in unusual times. Before our eyes we see laws enacted that directly oppose or subtly undermine the truths, values and principles the church has upheld for centuries. Despite their benefit to Western democracies, those democracies are destroying the very...
Do you ever wonder how the Westminster divines would defend the Christian faith? I happen to believe that the apologetic method most consistent with the Westminster Confession of Faith (as well as the Larger and Shorter Catechisms) is what is called covenantal apologetics or what has been called...
There are several things necessary for an orchestra performance that by themselves would not be sufficient for the performance. Instruments, the music, the sheets upon which the music was written and many other things would all be necessary for the performance. Still, by themselves, such things are...
If, as my wife descended the staircase ready to go out on a date night, I said to her, "Hon, you look beautiful," she would likely thank me. But, if on that same evening, not ten minutes after, I told her that she looked monstrous how do you think she might react? Well, she might start looking...
The battle over inerrancy can get quite messy and convoluted. It can become an exercise in losing the forest for the trees as varying sides’ debate the minutia of issues. More than one scholar has complained that the problem with the doctrine of inerrancy is that definitions become so qualified...
We are familiar with the conversation. Satan had entered into the Garden of Eden and inhabited a serpent. This serpent then began to talk with Adam’s wife Eve. The exchange began with the serpent’s seemingly innocuous query, “Did actually say ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’” What...
Everyone, whether Christian or not, has a doctrine of inerrancy. Everyone believes some things to be true, others false and they base their life on what they believe is true, right and good. No one actually functions believing that they are void of all truth. This can be known from observation of...